Telecoms credit reclaiming. Guide discussion

Xena82

My mum and I have been with O2 for 15+ years and it's only due to buying a new handset that we have realized that O2 have been charging us for 2 tariffs since 2009... I used to pay £10 a month but then years ago we were told the tariff we had was no longer available and we would have to top up £10 and £5 would be taken a month for our allowance but recently we've been getting messages that have confused us. When we top up £10 we get a text saying 'you now have 300 texts and 500mb data' but then a few days after get a message after the £5 is taken to say thank you you now have 1000 texts and 500mb data but we haven't agreed to this and have worked out 02 have taken over £360 unauthourized my me and my mum, does any one know if I have a case to claim it back.

Meg_Learner

Xena82 wrote: »

My mum and I have been with O2 for 15+ years and it's only due to buying a new handset that we have realized that O2 have been charging us for 2 tariffs since 2009... I used to pay £10 a month but then years ago we were told the tariff we had was no longer available and we would have to top up £10 and £5 would be taken a month for our allowance but recently we've been getting messages that have confused us. When we top up £10 we get a text saying 'you now have 300 texts and 500mb data' but then a few days after get a message after the £5 is taken to say thank you you now have 1000 texts and 500mb data but we haven't agreed to this and have worked out 02 have taken over £360 unauthourized my me and my mum, does any one know if I have a case to claim it back.

Have you tried asking them for it back?

MaggsR

Yey! I have had two months line rental credited to my account at £39.00 per month - so a total of £78.00. Thank you !

Aymz1

I have just read about getting refund for unused credit i am just wondering if anyone knows if you can do it while your still in your contract or do you wait till the end of it. As i never use all my minutes and texts or internet. There is always over half left at the end of the month

Aymz1

Also wondering if this just applies to phone contract or can reclaim on line rental and wifi aswell. I never use my landline phone.

freezeeh

Has anyone successfully received reimbursement of credit from Giffgaff?

robskillz

Yes it's a real shame that mobile phone networks won't refund pay-as-you-go credit. I had the same problem when I switched mobile provider and eventually ended up finding a charity with text-donation that was active who I could send my outstanding credit to, rather than leave the money in the coffers of Vodafone!

As it was such a pain to find a charity with active text donation for the particualar amount of credit I had left over I decided to set up a JustGiving page on behalf of Oxfam for the very purpose of helping people to donate their unused PAYG balance. A link to the page is here, with full instructions:
http://www.justgiving.com/how-to-use-payg-credit

Hope that helps!
Rob

hilarygee wrote: »

Beware: Orange/EE do not pay back money credited to a PAYG account (as opposed to a monthly plan) even if you close it formally via PAC and transfer to a different provider. They will only transfer any credit to another EE/Orange account. If you do not have such an account or cannot use someone else's, they just brazenly steal the money. I think this is unfair, dishonest and counts as theft. It should not be allowed (maybe it isn't allowed??).

I tried reclaiming around £12 from Orange (EE) after closing my PAYG account & migrating to Family Mobile.I wrestled with unspeakably awful & unhelpful 'help' menus, any staff I contacted could not do anything as the account was closed (rather the whole point duh!) and so forth. Eventually, I filed a complaint for which there was a form on line (non-obvious, filed under Customer Relations).

That got me a phone call from a real human who could actually do something off the standard script. (wow!) She explained they did not refund on PAYG (not a proper credit but 'time' or something of the kind). Seems like a credit to me regardless of the exact contract. However, I could transfer the credit to another EE/Orange account - even a lowly PAYG one, just

So we got it transferred into my husband's Orange account which is better than losing it.

cinereus

spamfritters1 wrote: »

Giffgaff say no refunds of unused credit - this has to be a massive money making scam for the phone companies and should be stopped

Is that legally allowed?

Malcolm_E

MSE: Giffgaff has categorically refused to refund my credit. I argue that keeping any remaining credit is an effective charge for leaving. However, not only has Ofcom supported giffgaff's position, but even the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) seems to think that giffgaff's 'Free to Go' advertising is not misleading. Please complain to the ASA if you've had a similar experience and think the advertising is misleading.

If a bank kept all the money that happened to be in your account on the day you told them you wanted to change bank, would anyone consider that as being free to change bank account?

Dan_Jamieson

My boss has kept receiving bills for -£1,564.66 (being in minus, surely means credit?).

I called a few months ago, and they explained this was an error, but got another bill through today for the same amount.

I called them up and they said it was in credit and we agreed to pay the amount in to her account.

However, later on we received a call back saying it was a mistake, and we weren't entitled to money that wasn't ours, and was simply, a mistake..I tried to argue otherwise..

Slightly confused about this - any suggestions?

It's for an iPad plan bundle.

Thank you,

Dan.